Animal chute gates are well known for holding cattle substantially immobile for medical treatment or the like. Examples of such gates are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,623,456 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,212. The gate shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,212 has a pair of upright animal engaging members supported on a main frame for manual movement toward and away from an animal engaging position. In addition to being manually operable, the gate can be set for automatic closing, when contacted by an animal, by a trigger mechanism having a vertically rotatable catch means operatively associated with a horizontally movable trigger member. Although the trigger mechanism of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,212 is generally satisfactory in operation, difficulty has been encountered in visually setting the mechanism for automatic operation and in releasing the mechanism to permit a quick exit of an animal from the gate.